While everyone is stopping to smell the roses, you may want to consider not doing it while you’re driving. April is Distracted Driving Awareness month.
We all know that texting and driving is a big issue, around 660,000 drivers use their cell phones while driving during daylight hours. Even students, like Grace McGill, Nathan Her, and Dylan Ashlock admitted to distracted driving or witnessing it.
McGill said, “Mainly for like changing the song and that’s why I do it. Or if like, I do the non-distracted driving, so it’ll send me a text message or call me, but mainly to change the song, and that’s when I’m like ‘I’ve been looking at it too long.’”
Ashlock said “I sometimes catch myself being distracted while driving when I’m changing music or approaching my friend’s house to come pick them up and I would need to contact them.”
About ¼ accidents are caused by distracted driving, and according to CDC research, distracted driving was responsible for more than 420,000 injuries and 3,300 deaths in the U.S.
McGill said, “It wasn’t for me, it was witnessing someone FaceTiming while driving, and I think I’ve even seen somebody on their iPad while driving, and that kind of- I think I’ve even seen somebody like put their phone on their steering wheel, while watching Netflix while driving, and that’s pretty terrifying.”
Her said, “I’ve seen texting and driving like on the highway, and usually that causes like slow traffic and stuff like that.”
Even if you’re not a perpetrator of distracted driving, you can still keep yourself and others safe by calling them out when you see it.
Ashlock said, “I’ve called out one of my friends a couple times whenever we’re, you know, driving to a different state or something like that on a different highway or road when we’re not that too familiar with it.”
Her said, “Usually, some of my friend will text and drive, and I’ll tell them like, ‘Hey, stop it, we’re just driving, like be careful.’ And usually, after that, they’ll just like stop it.”
McGill said,“I think I have called them out only when it’s been too long, so if they’re doing something similar or like a text back, or like calling someone, then I’ll be like ‘Hey, it’s been a long time’ or if they’re starting to like kind of weave a little bit that’s when I’ll be like ‘Put it down.’”
So, the next time you’re driving, don’t be distracted. From the Campus Ledger, I’m Simone Griggs.